Many times when you have problems with your computer, it turns out to be something simple. For example, about a month ago, a friend called me to help her figure out why she couldn’t read her digital camera files off her USB card reader.
We talked and determined that the computer knew about the drive and it appeared to be working fine. The card reader’s little light was on, which was another indication it appeared to be working. But the files didn’t come up in Windows Explorer. Then I suggested what I often suggest in weird situations like these: reconnect the cables.
As it turned out, that was the answer. The cable was not connected properly, so the reader only sort of worked. When in doubt, with hardware problems, turn off the computer, and start wiggling cables. It rarely hurts and often helps.
This situation got me thinking that in general, I almost always try the same series of things when I have computer problems. After wiggling cables, the next thing to try is rebooting the computer. In other words, choose Start, Turn Off Computer. If the computer doesn’t turn all the way off, after shutting down, hit the power button. Wait 10 seconds and then turn the computer back on. If software is behaving badly, sometimes it has more to do with Windows, than the software. Rebooting clears out the memory and lets everything start over. I’ve found that simply rebooting solved a number of really weird networking or software installation problems. You just never know and again, it doesn’t hurt and it might help.
If you are having problems with hardware and wiggling cables and rebooting don’t work, your next step is to make sure you have the latest drivers and updates for your system. Your computer is a sea of different software that all has to play nicely together. Sometimes different driver versions collide with other software or Windows itself. By keeping everything up to date, you are more likely to have software that has all been tested together and should work.
Of course, sometimes these things don’t work as planned. If your computer starts behaving badly, try to determine when it last worked correctly. Often badness ensues from a software installation or hardware update. If the computer worked before you added the new monitor and now doesn’t work, the new monitor (or the driver) is likely to be the cause of the problem. If you can, back out your changes to return to a stable state.
Last, but not least, back up your data. In the event of a big crash, you can reinstall software easily. Recreating data is another story. If you have years upon years of data and priceless photos of your daughter’s wedding on your system, back it up. Stuff happens. And with computers, stuff is mostly likely to happen to whatever you haven’t backed up.